If you want to see what a scientist actually takes, not what an influencer gets paid to hold up, Dr. Rhonda Patrick is one of the best people to watch.
She has a PhD in biomedical science, she runs the FoundMyFitness podcast, and she's unusually open about her own routine: what she takes, how much, when, and why. She updates it regularly in her member Q&As, and she walked through her core picks on The Mel Robbins Podcast.
I went through her recent updates and pulled out the stack, the doses and the research behind each piece. Then I boiled it down into a simple version you can actually start this week.
(Quick note: Rhonda isn't affiliated with Health & Cognition. We just think her approach is one of the smartest out there.)
The short version
Rhonda's core five are the supplements she says many people can benefit from:
| Supplement | Her dose | When she takes it |
|---|---|---|
| Omega-3 (fish oil) | About 2 g a day | Split between breakfast and dinner |
| Multivitamin | 1 serving | With lunch |
| Vitamin D | About 4,000 IU total (2,000 IU in her multi + 2,000 IU extra) | With a meal |
| Magnesium glycinate | About 250 mg | In the evening |
| Creatine | 10 g (two 5-g doses) | Morning, often in coffee |
On top of that she adds glutamine, CoQ10 (as ubiquinol), vitamin K2, vitamin C, sulforaphane, cocoa flavanols, PQQ, alpha-lipoic acid, myo-inositol and a little melatonin. If you're starting from zero, the core five are where the value is.
Why this stack is worth copying
Most celebrity stacks are long, complicated and built around whatever the sponsor sells. Rhonda's core is the opposite. It's boring in the best way: simple, well-studied basics that fill common gaps in the modern diet.
The logic is simple: - Many people don't eat fatty fish twice a week (omega-3). - Many people don't get much sun, especially in winter (vitamin D). - Many people don't eat enough leafy greens, nuts and seeds (magnesium). - Almost nobody eats a perfect diet every day (multivitamin). - Creatine supports energy in both muscle and brain, and most people get far less from food than the studied doses.
Let's go through each one.
1. Creatine: 10 g a day
Rhonda takes two 5-g doses of creatine monohydrate each morning, often stirred into her coffee. She takes it with both muscle and brain energy in mind.
Why it's in the stack: creatine is one of the most studied supplements in the world. Beyond training, a 2024 meta-analysis of 16 randomized trials found creatine improved memory in adults (Xu et al., 2024, Frontiers in Nutrition). And a 2024 study found a single high dose supported thinking and brain energy during a night of sleep deprivation (Gordji-Nejad et al., 2024, Scientific Reports).
How to copy it: start with 5 g a day, the most researched daily dose. Move to 10 g if you want to match Rhonda. Timing doesn't matter much; consistency does. I go deep on this in creatine for your brain.
2. A daily multivitamin
Rhonda takes one multivitamin serving a day with lunch. Her reasoning: it's nutritional insurance for the days your diet isn't perfect.
The research that makes this interesting: in a large randomized trial of 3,562 adults aged 60 and up, people who took a daily multivitamin for a year remembered more words on a memory test than people on placebo (Yeung et al., 2023, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition). The researchers estimated the benefit was roughly equivalent to about three years of age-related memory change.
How to copy it: one serving a day with a meal. Meals help, because some of the vitamins are fat-soluble.
3. Vitamin D: about 4,000 IU total
Rhonda gets about 2,000 IU from her multivitamin and takes another 2,000 IU on top, for roughly 4,000 IU a day. That lines up with the NIH's tolerable upper intake level for adults, which is also 4,000 IU.
Why it's in the stack: your body makes vitamin D from sunlight, so office workers and anyone in a northern winter often run low. Vitamin D supports bones, muscles and normal immune function.
How to copy it: take it with a meal that contains some fat, since vitamin D is fat-soluble. Rhonda has also said earlier in the day can be a good choice, as some people find late-day vitamin D affects their sleep. Count what's already in your multivitamin before you add more.
4. Magnesium glycinate: about 250 mg at night
Rhonda takes about 250 mg of magnesium glycinate (two 125-mg capsules) in the evening and says it seems to help her sleep. She also notes she loses some magnesium through sweat, which matters if you train hard.
The research lines up nicely with her dose: a 2025 randomized trial gave adults who reported poor sleep 250 mg of elemental magnesium as bisglycinate before bed, and after four weeks they reported better sleep than the placebo group (Schuster et al., 2025, Nature and Science of Sleep).
How to copy it: 200-350 mg of elemental magnesium, 30-60 minutes before bed. Full breakdown in our guide to magnesium for sleep.
5. Omega-3: about 2 g a day
Omega-3 is at the top of Rhonda's list, mostly because so few people eat two servings of fatty fish a week. She takes about 2 g of fish oil a day, split between breakfast and dinner, and explains that around 2 g a day is a good starting point for raising your omega-3 levels.
How to copy it: eat salmon, sardines or mackerel twice a week, or take a quality fish oil with your two biggest meals. Absorption is better with a meal that contains fat.
The extras (what she adds on top)
Once the core five are in place, Rhonda layers in more targeted picks. A few worth knowing:
- Glutamine, 5 g in the morning. An amino acid she takes alongside her creatine. Many people use it in training-recovery routines. → L-Glutamine Powder
- CoQ10 (as ubiquinol), in the evening. CoQ10 is part of how your cells make energy. Rhonda uses ubiquinol, the reduced form; ubiquinone is the more common form, and your body converts between the two. → CoQ10 Ubiquinone
- Vitamin K2, taken with her vitamin D.
- Sulforaphane, the compound found in broccoli sprouts.
- Cocoa flavanols, PQQ, alpha-lipoic acid, vitamin C and myo-inositol.
- Melatonin, 3 mg in the evening.
You don't need all of these. They're the "advanced" layer, and they make the most sense once the basics are a habit.
How I'd build a starter version
If I were starting from scratch tomorrow, here's the Rhonda-inspired stack I'd use. It's built around when you take things, so it slots into a normal day:
Morning (with coffee or water) - 5 g creatine monohydrate
Lunch (a meal with some fat) - 1 serving multivitamin - Vitamin D3 2,000 IU (check how much is in your multi first) - Fish oil, or plan a fish dinner twice a week
Evening (30-60 minutes before bed) - Magnesium glycinate, 200-350 mg elemental
That's four bottles and about a minute a day. Run it for a month, see how you feel, then decide whether to add anything from the extras list.
It's the whole idea behind work hard, play hard, recover hard: give your body the raw materials, then go live your life.
Common questions
Do I need all five? No. If you eat fish twice a week, skip the fish oil. If you get daily midday sun, you may need less vitamin D. Fill the gaps you actually have.
Can I take everything at once? You can, but splitting by meal works better. Fat-soluble nutrients (vitamin D, omega-3) like a meal with fat, and magnesium fits best at night.
Why does she take 10 g of creatine instead of 5? She takes it with brain energy in mind as well as muscle. Most research uses 3-5 g, so that's the proven starting point; 10 g is a reasonable step up later.
Is this the same as Huberman's stack? There's overlap, especially magnesium. Andrew Huberman's best-known routine is his sleep stack, which pairs magnesium with apigenin and L-theanine.
The bottom line
Rhonda Patrick's stack is popular because it's built on basics: creatine, a multivitamin, vitamin D, magnesium and omega-3. Each one fills a common gap, each one has solid research behind it, and together they make a stack you can actually stick with.
Start with the core, take them at the right time of day, and stay consistent for a month.
Shop the core of the stack: Creatine Monohydrate, Complete Multivitamin, Vitamin D3 2,000 IU and Magnesium Glycinate.
Sources
- Patrick R. "How Dr. Rhonda Patrick Builds Her Supplement Routine." FoundMyFitness, 2025. foundmyfitness.com/episodes/rhonda-patrick-supplement-routine-2025
- Patrick R. "How Five Common Supplements Fit a Health Plan" (clip from The Mel Robbins Podcast). FoundMyFitness. foundmyfitness.com/episodes/how-five-common-supplements-fit-a-health-plan
- Xu C, Bi S, Zhang W, Luo L. The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2024;11:1424972. doi:10.3389/fnut.2024.1424972
- Gordji-Nejad A, et al. Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation. Scientific Reports. 2024;14:4937. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-54249-9
- Yeung LK, et al. Multivitamin supplementation improves memory in older adults: a randomized clinical trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2023;118(1):273-282. doi:10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.05.011
- Schuster J, et al. Magnesium bisglycinate supplementation in healthy adults reporting poor sleep: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Nature and Science of Sleep. 2025. doi:10.2147/NSS.S524348
- National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin D: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.
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